Stay on Grace ground and live free from sin and death.

Believers, have you noticed how the Holy Spirit never helps you memorize the Ten Commandments (much less in order?) Ask most Christians, even those fighting to keep the Law, what the eighth Commandment is and what you'll get is lots of head-scratching with ums and ems! Let's not even begin to talk about the over 600 laws in the Torah e.g. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." I don't even know what that means!

James 2:10 says: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble at one point he is guilty of all."

Thought to point out that a person cannot be under both Law and Grace - calling Christ "Saviour" while trying to keep the Law in order to be righteous before God and make it to heaven. This horrid mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the "neither cold nor hot" that Christ speaks of in Revelation 3. Galatians 5:4 says:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Those who claim to be Christians yet are trying to keep the Law in order to remain in God's good books will lose both the wine and the wineskin- cut of from Christ and left to face the curse of the Law which condemns all who try to keep it. Romans 3 says of our salvation in Christ:

"26...for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

The crux of the message of Christ is Righteousness by Faith. Trying to obey the Law in order to be righteous/godly is what cuts one off from Christ and pushes one off Grace ground. Only the curse remains under Law: Galatians 3:10-

"Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, “Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!”"

Back to James 2:10 - "For whosoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble at one point he is guilty of all."

The "whole" Law is not just the Ten Commandments which no man can keep perfectly. God's word says "all have sinned." Yet man who does not know most of the over 600 laws of the Torah presumes that he can keep it by using the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that God's word says will fail- something that the Jewish Pharisees who knew the law back-to-back failed at!

Most people who are fighting to be under law can barely recite the Ten Commandments. But John 3:16 is imprinted in everyone's heart. Even little children in Sunday School easily memorise and remember John 3:14-16:

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God wants us focused on His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ who died to set us free from the Law and its curse, just as the Israelites that were bitten by fiery serpents in the wilderness were saved by looking expectantly at the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up.

God doesn't want us focused on keeping the Law (which kills) or doing its works; the Israelites that were bitten by fiery serpents in the wilderness would have died if they had rushed off to save themselves from the snake sting/venom (sin) and its effects (earthly ills and death) by doing good things and keeping the law. 1 Corinthians 15:56 says-

"For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power."

Remember Christ Himself made this comparison between Himself and the bronze serpent. The snake sting/venom in the affected Israelites is a picture of sin in man. The Israelites rushing off to do things to save themselves would have made the snake sting/venom work faster and its effects worse. But this is what many Christians are doing today: rushing off to keep the Law and do things in order to be free from their sin and troubles instead of looking to Jesus who was lifted up to save us from sin and death! The Law that many are rushing off to keep gives sin its power.

Believer, see why Christ Christ was lifted up for us at the cross:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

Matthew 1:21 says of Him: "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

By God's Grace, let's stop striving to save ourselves with our puny arm of flesh that will fail and rest in Christ to transform us to righteousness and wholeness. In Christ, the Law is fulfilled in us but not by us. In Him, God gives us an A-plus in law-keeping, "even though we are guilty of many sins" - Romans 5:16-17:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

In Christ, we are not under Law but under Grace: "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.

Under Grace, having Him as our righteousness and strength, we never remain the same. He is the Way out of sin and death. In Him, we get to "live in triumph over sin and death." Satan knows this and this is why he and his seemingly holy agents behind many pulpits are constantly attacking God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ by adding some human striving at keeping the Law to our believing in Jesus - the ONLY condition for our salvation. Such preach that Grace is not sufficient for we who believe, contradicting our Saviour Jesus Christ! See what Christ says in 2 Cor. 12:9-

"And He said to me, "“My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”..."

Christ is Saviour from every weakness, including sins, addictions, disease and every earthly ill. Matthew 1:21 says of Him: "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Believer, the spirit of the antichrist is not anti-God. In fact, it preaches very STRONGLY against sins and the need to strive for godliness but its own way of attaining godliness (be like God) is through the arm of flesh (human striving at keeping the Law that gives the knowledge of good and evil.) This is the same strategy that Satan used to deceive Eve into believing that she could be godly (be like God) by her own human effort at eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the Law that many are trying so hard to keep in order to be godly aka "be like God" in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG.)

Satan knows that human striving at keeping the law in a bid to be godly/get right with God is how to cut the believer off from Jesus Christ the Tree of Life. See the result of trying to get right with God by keeping the Law in Galatians 5:4-

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Also see Romans 3:20- "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the Law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

See what Isaiah 64:6 says of how God sees ALL of our human striving and will-power at notching up points of righteousness with God:

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Believer, only God's freely-given righteousness that proceeds from Christ's shed blood will suffice for God the Righteous. No additives of our "menstrual rag" righteousnesses required. No mixture allowed. Romans 5:9 says of our Lord God's unfailing love and how He sees all who truly believe Jesus:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

In Christ, we are 100% righteous in God's sight, "even though we are guilty of many sins." (Romans 5:16.) This is God's WRITTEN word but many are afraid to believe or preach it because they feel that it is "accommodating sins." GOD DOES NOT THINK SO. In fact, His word says this is how we GET TO live in triumph over sin and death. See Romans 5:16-17- 

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Satan knows this and so he and his "pastor" agents are working hard to add the seemingly good thing of keeping the LAW in order to be godly to our salvation which is by GRACE through FAITH.

Praise the Lord who upholds all who trust in Him with His righteous right hand, leads us on the path of righteousness and makes the preaching of Satan's agents disgusting to us! Ask and He will help you now.

Believer, we are 100% righteous in the eyes of our Abba Father "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21.

This is the crux of the gospel: Righteousness by faith.

Check out the words of Paul, a former Pharisee of Pharisees who "obeyed the Law without fault" in Philippians 2. He counted all of his efforts at law-keeping as dung so that He could gain Christ!

"9 and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith."

The Law is not of faith. But does this mean that we can go on sinning sprees? CERTAINLY NOT!

With our Saviour's gift of righteousness comes no condemnation. There is no condemnation for all who are in Him (Romans 8:1.) Like the woman that was caught in adultery and through Christ, was saved from the death that the Law demanded, it is Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us free from judgment and makes us "Go and sin no more."

2 Corinthians 3:18 says "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Beware of false preachers who place the burden of your transformation to godliness on your non-existent ability to keep the Law and deny the power of the Holy Spirit to transform even the vilest offender who believes in Jesus into living a life of godliness.

Believer, we are transformed by beholding Jesus - the same way the Israelites that were bitten by fiery serpents in the wilderness were transformed to life by looking expectantly at the bronze serpent on the pole. Only when we are made whole can we produce works that are pleasing to God, yet not us but Christ in us, so we can never boast about how "I sowed my car and God gave me a jet." With Christ, God gives us all things FREELY (Romans 8:32.)

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.